Makes Cents

Intro

Next steps

finance class

Were wrapping up our series called Happily Ever After.

we’ve been trying to create a different/better picture.

God doesn’t just want us happy, that isn’t the ultimate goal. its too small and temporary.

God want us to live Blessed, no matter what happens in life.

My youngest daughter has started to love these.

She’s gotten really good.

Dad mix it all up and give it too me. Next thing you know the colors match!

But me, I don’t get it. I’m sure theres a method, but It’s just confusing.

I I get frustrated and either quit or try to find a short cut by moving all of the stickers...

one of the greatest barriers that seems to complicate life is money.

We know it’s complicated!

One of the most cited reasons for divorce is in some way related to..... MONEY!

Mo money Mo problems

Some of us say NO money Mo problems.

I think if we aren’t careful, there are problems at every stage.

Haggai 1:5-7

Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.

wow nail on the head.

Give careful thought. Let’s pay careful attention to our view of money.

This is one area that I don’t preach on enough because I know the stigma, but i also know the difference it can make if we get a healthy view.

This can be a real sensitive area.

But would you just commit to listening and receive it!

If we’re really honest, most of us have had a toxic relationship with money.

Many never showed a good way to view it, spend it, think about it.

Few areas created the complications that money does if we get it wrong.

That’s why Jesus talked about money twice as much as heaven or hell!!

16 of the 38 parables of jesus had to do with money and possessions.

About 500 verses about prayer and faith...

Over 2000 dealing with money and possessions!

WHY?!?

Because it’s spiritual!

Matthew 6:21

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

There is nothing more important in life than the condition of yoru heart.

toward you kids, toward your spouse, family, and GOD.

And the direction THIS goes in, the directions your heart goes in.

“If a person gets their attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area of their life.”

~ Rev. Billy Graham

Why is it so complicated??

Because it’s not a battle for yoru wallet its a battle for your heart.

Luke 16:13

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money (mammon)

Spirit of mammon tries to lie to you and make your promises but only God can bless your life!!

There was a book written called the day America told the truth

They asked a question,

What would you be willing to do for $10 million

25% would abandon their families.

23% would become a prostitute for a week or more.

16% would give up american citizenship

10% would withold testimony letting a murderer go free

7% would kill a stranger

3% would put their children up for adoption!

If we change our thinking and begin to see it more spiritually than naturally it will help uncomplicated a lot of it.

God really does want to bless you!!

Naturally - More money more security

Proverbs 18:11

The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it a wall too high to scale.

Steve Jobs said, at the end of his life, if I knew I wold be dying this soon, I would have handled my money differently and lived my life differently.

Has to be more.

Hebrews 13:5-6

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”

Money is a resource, not the source.

It’s a great tool, but a horrible master.

(I use it or it uses me)

Spiritually - God is the source, my security, my hope and my strength.

--

Naturally - What I own defines who I am.

bigger, better, bank account.

Luke 12:15

Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

Ecclesiastes 5:10

Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.

It can’t bring the purpose and happiness we often think it can.

Romans 4:7-8

Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them

Spiritually - Who I am is found in God alone.

--

Naturally - My Stuff Belongs to me.

We have to not see ourselves as owners, but as managers.

Steward it well.

I have nothing because of me. It’s from Him and for Him.

1 Chronicles 29:10-12

Praise be to you, Lord, the God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.

This mindset changes so much!!

So let’s get God’s perspective and uncomplicated this major issue.

1. DO WORK

In order to manage it well, you need to make it.

It can’t be yoru source but it’s a great resource.

Genesis 2:15

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

God is pro work.

Show up do a great job. and show up again.

Proverbs 10:4

Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth.

2 Thessalonians 3:10-12

For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat.

Psalm 128:2

You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.

Plan the seeds, plant the seeds, til the ground, till the ground, and the fruit will produce.

God will bless you!

Your work matters, not only because it is God primary way to financially pour into yoru life, but because it is an opportunity to honor God in how you do it! The more he is honored, the more he will bless.

Colossians 3:23

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters

In our culture we have developed a spirit of entitlement.

I deserve all of the fruit I didn't work for.

A spirit of laziness, I’ll do the bare minimum.

And the spirit of debt.

I want the fruit first.

Let’s show up and do good work!

2. BE WISE

Once you have some money in the bank account, you have to be wise with how you manage it.

It doesn’t matter how much, unwise with little will be unwise with much.

Proverbs 21:20

The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down.

Luke 14:28-30

Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, “This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.”

Tell your money what to do, don’t just spend because you can.

Create a budget.

Save. Plan. Think about it, count the cost!

Practical - right after service, budget making with Brent Brookshire.

So much of the money complications comes from not using wisdom with how we use it.

3. HIS WAY

Biblical teaching so often gets pushback from people because it’s so counter to how we think about money.

But it’s God’s Way.

The greatest principle I think that we can catch as it comes to money is the principle of tithing.

I know some of you right now are thinking, I knew it, I’d come to church and they’d talk about money!

Ask anyone we rarely do, we don’t harp, but this is too important to miss.

We’ve made sure to manage our church in such a way that we don’t ever stand up here and beg or plead for any giving.

We have trusted God since day one and he has provided.

If you don’t do this, we will be ok!!!

This is for you.

The best life is a blessed life, and a blessed life is a generous one.

This has nothing to do with tax bracket.

2 Corinthians 9:6-8

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

But we never understand the joy of generosity without first the step of obedience.

god it belongs to you and I give it back to you,

to honor you and further your kingdom.

Leviticus 27:30 (LB)

A tenth of all you produce... is the Lord’s, and it is holy.

Malachi, set in a time when Israel is complaining because God had left him.

And he had. they had distanced himself from them.

The book deals with 4 big things that they did that kicked God out.

One of those is found in chapter 3

Malachi 3:6-12

I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.

He says test me, you’ll never know until you do the blessing of giving.

Tithing isn’t God wanting your money, it’s God getting your heart.

It communicated that God is first.

Isn’t this just an old testament law?

Yes!

It was a law and we are free from having to accomplish law.

But the principal of tithing does predate when the law was given in the old testament.

We don’t throw out everything because it’s old testament law.

Still good not to kill....

Now we don’t HAVE TO, we GET TO.

It positions us to be blessed by God and live a generous life.

It’s a test of our faith.

He says test me.

He gets it first.

Fear tries to creep in.

But I trust him by faith.

The church just wants my money.

Couldn’t be further from the truth.

God has blessed us.

We trust in Him.

BUT, what could we do if we all partnered together.

Tithing enables to church to do God’s Kingdom work.

CONCLUSION

Let’s uncomplicated this thing, it doesn’t have to rule and conquer you!

Do Work

Be Wise

use it God’s Way.

Pray

Response